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BOSTON — The San Francisco Giants didn’t just break their franchise record for pitchers used in a game on Tuesday.

When manager Bruce Bochy was told the club cycled through 13 pitchers in a 7-6, 15-inning win over the Red Sox, besting the previous high of 11 set in September, 1989, he sat back in his seat and laughed.

“Shattered it,” Bochy exclaimed.

Twenty-four pitchers took the mound in total on Tuesday as the Red Sox needed 11 in a game that tied the MLB record set on September 15, 2015 in a game between the Rockies (13 pitchers) and Dodgers (11).

A five-hour, 54-minute marathon at Fenway Park marked the second longest game the Giants have played since they moved west from New York in 1958. The only game the Giants have participated in that surpassed the six-hour mark actually lasted beyond seven, as their seven-hour, 23-minute game against the Mets at Shea Stadium on May 31, 1964 finally ended after 23 innings.

Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry pitched 10 innings and earned a win in relief in a game in which the Giants used six pitchers. Their bullpen was fresh, however, as Juan Marichal tossed a complete game earlier in the day as the Giants and Mets played a doubleheader.

How much has baseball changed in the last 55 years? The Giants used 13 pitchers in Tuesday’s game and 15 pitchers during the entire 1964 season. Two years earlier, when the Giants won the National League pennant, 12 pitchers combined to log all 1,461 2/3 regular season innings.

Tuesday’s game is not the type Bochy will miss when he rides off into retirement in 11 days.

The Giants manager may have kept his pedometer active in an unprecedented manner, but he knows the constant shuffling of pitchers to create ideal matchups doesn’t make for a good viewing experience.

Major League Baseball knows that too.

The league is planning to cap the number of pitchers allowed on an active roster next season and while that number has yet to be determined, it is not expected to exceed 14.

When rosters expand in September, teams such as the Giants will no longer be able to carry the vast majority of players on their 40-man roster each day. Instead, they’ll be limited to 28 players.

A similar extra-inning endurance test could always result in position players pitching and put the Giants’ franchise record of 13 in jeopardy, but anyone who takes the mound in 2020 and beyond will be required to face a minimum of three batters.

Four of the Giants’ 13 pitchers on Tuesday faced two batters or fewer.

Every team has prepared for this at the minor league level this season, including the Giants, who have asked right and left-handed relievers to pitch multiple innings at a time. Submarine-style reliever Tyler Rogers has been tested in this manner regularly, as Rogers often threw more than an inning at a time in previous seasons and did so in 22 of his 49 Triple-A appearances this year.

In 2020, Giants fans should expect more relief appearances like the ones Shaun Anderson and Dereck Rodríguez made on Tuesday. Both pitchers recorded six outs and combined for four crucial shutout innings in the Giants’ 37th one-run win of the season.

Extending outings for relief pitchers should make games, particularly in September, more watchable for fans. A lack of specialists could result in more balls in play and will certainly bring an end to the undesirable string of stoppages. If MLB opts to reduce mound visits from five to four, a possibility still under consideration, fans stand to benefit.

The Giants may never have the satisfaction of winning a game in which 25 players contributed to the cause in the future, but that’s good news for managers, players and most of all, the fans.

Kerry Crowley is a multimedia beat reporter covering the San Francisco Giants. He spent his early days throwing curveballs in San Francisco’s youth leagues before studying journalism at Arizona State University. Kerry has covered every level of baseball, from local preps to the Cape Cod League, and is now on a quest to determine which Major League city serves the best cheeseburger.